Encouraging Online Harassment?
Posted: Wed Jul 09, 2025 8:39 am
The Internet, with its speed and permanent memory, doesn't easily forgive; even if these kids manage to avoid jail, the Web will give them no props for this. The video and their mug shots are everywhere, and this thing will stay attached to their names in Google for decades.
Even parents who are confident that YouTube won’t prompt their children to turn to lives of crime may want to take a closer look at the site before allowing their kids to upload videos.
On Feb. 6, parenting expert Denise Witmer took on the topic of harmful, harassing YouTube comments in her Parenting Teens blog on Kids are very vulnerable,” Witmer wrote, “and something that can seem fun to them can become potentially harming.”
Witmer’s comment was written in response to a mother who phone number data that even careful, parent-supervised online activity can have disturbing consequences for impressionable children:
My 10-year-old daughter decided to make her own videos, just like some singers she likes do it. She recorded a few ones in which she talked about her favorite music, showed her favorite dolls and danced around the room. She then decided to post them on YouTube.
She asked me if I thought it was dangerous for her to do that and after some reflection I thought it would be safe if she didn't reveal in the videos any personal information.
Last week she asked me to check the comments posted on her videos with her. I was shocked to see that there were about 18 obscene messages posted from unknown people! I realized I had made a big mistake to underestimate the consequences of allowing my daughter to expose herself, no matter how innocent the videos were, on the Internet.
YouTube has developed quite the reputation for negative comments, with even the most innocent videos not immune from written attacks by mean-spirited, anonymous commenters. Allowing your children to post comment-enabled videos without restricting what others can write about them will greatly increase their exposure to online harassment and cyberbullying.
Even parents who are confident that YouTube won’t prompt their children to turn to lives of crime may want to take a closer look at the site before allowing their kids to upload videos.
On Feb. 6, parenting expert Denise Witmer took on the topic of harmful, harassing YouTube comments in her Parenting Teens blog on Kids are very vulnerable,” Witmer wrote, “and something that can seem fun to them can become potentially harming.”
Witmer’s comment was written in response to a mother who phone number data that even careful, parent-supervised online activity can have disturbing consequences for impressionable children:
My 10-year-old daughter decided to make her own videos, just like some singers she likes do it. She recorded a few ones in which she talked about her favorite music, showed her favorite dolls and danced around the room. She then decided to post them on YouTube.
She asked me if I thought it was dangerous for her to do that and after some reflection I thought it would be safe if she didn't reveal in the videos any personal information.
Last week she asked me to check the comments posted on her videos with her. I was shocked to see that there were about 18 obscene messages posted from unknown people! I realized I had made a big mistake to underestimate the consequences of allowing my daughter to expose herself, no matter how innocent the videos were, on the Internet.
YouTube has developed quite the reputation for negative comments, with even the most innocent videos not immune from written attacks by mean-spirited, anonymous commenters. Allowing your children to post comment-enabled videos without restricting what others can write about them will greatly increase their exposure to online harassment and cyberbullying.